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Archives for November 2006

Round Of Applause

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Hi everyone.  I’m Tim, the owner of this site.  Remember me?  I’m back from my honeymoon, which was phenomenal.  Just a perfect week in Mexico.  The extent of my baseball monitoring during that time:

– Went on Internet for 15 minutes.  Saw that Juan Pierre signed a five year contract.  Winced and made my way back to the beach.

– Paid three bucks for a day late special "Cancun edition" of the Miami Herald.  Learned that the Astros signed Carlos Lee at an average of $16.6MM annually.  Winced and made my way back to the beach.

Good times.  I’ll run through the other hot stove I missed in another post, for those interested.

Many, many thanks and a big round of applause to the five guys who helped me out while I was gone.  It was fun reading through the November archive when I got home today to see all these different voices.  Jeff, Jake, Koch, and Mark kept us updated on all the latest news, supplied cutting edge analysis, threw in some humor, and introduced us to all sorts of interesting baseball links.  That’s all you could ask for.  Thanks guys.  Please visit their websites today and bookmark them.  We haven’t seen the end of guest posts at MLBTradeRumors – this was cool.

Jeff Sackmann owns Brew Crew Ball and Minor League Splits.

Jake owns Bucco Blog.

Koch owns CubDumb.

Mark Healey owns Gotham Baseball.

And one more shoutout to Adam Howe, who writes for GameFour.  Adam stepped in to keep my fantasy baseball blog, RotoAuthority, rolling.

Yankees win Igawa bid

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Looks like the Yankees won the bidding to negotiate with Japanese lefty Kei Igawa for $25 million.  It was only a matter of time before Cashman threw some money around.

In other news, the Brewers are closing in on a deal with Craig Counsell.  (I’m not a fan: once around was enough for me.)  That’s right on the heels of hearing that Counsell was destined for San Diego; now, it would seem that Counsell’s original deal–two years of playing second base for the Padres–now will go to Tony Graffanino, who Doug Melvin had wanted to bring back to Milwaukee as a utility guy.  The Brewers also resigned Brian Shouse, who was eligible for arbitration.

By Jeff Sackmann

Cardinals get Wells, Kennedy

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The Cards finally made their first moves: they signed Adam Kennedy, brought in Kip Wells, resigned Gary Bennett, and gave Eli Marrero a minor-league deal.  No monetary details, but Bernie Miklasz guesses $15M for three years, while Rosenthal thinks it’s three years for $10M.

With Kennedy, Bennett, Scott Spiezio, and Jim Edmonds on board for 2007, the Cardinals appear to have their position players mostly set.  They’ll probably still add an outfielder, but that would seem to be a low priority.  Wells is a nice addition to fill out the rotation, but even counting on Adam Wainwright in the rotation, that leaves one more hole to fill.  My money’s on Jeff Weaver coming back, but surely Walt Jocketty is exploring plenty of options, including some via trade.

By Jeff Sackmann

Pitchers on the move

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Jason Schmidt has been offered $45 million over three years to join the Cubs.  If that offer has been leaked already, $60M/4 seems within the realm of possibility.  Strangely, Schmidt has already said he’s not interested in the East Coast–you’d think he’d wait until Cashman made an offer and drove up his price before saying no.  Once Schmidt signs, it’ll be fun to watch Scott Boras conduct the sure-to-be-insane bidding for Barry Zito.

Some team (to be announced tonight) won the bidding for Kei Igawa for $25 million.  Hanshin has accepted.  That’s the second largest posting fee ever–somebody must think Igawa is pretty good, definitely on the high side of the typical #3/#4 projection he’s gotten.  I’m guessing it’s not the Cubs, or we wouldn’t be hearing so much about the other pitchers they’re after.  That leaves plenty of other possibilities, though.

The Baltimore Orioles are continuing their quest to build the most expensive bullpen of all time: Chad Bradford is close to a three-year deal with them.  Anybody think it’s a little odd that the O’s traded Chris Britton for a reclamation project and are now probably spending about $8M a year for Bradford and Danys Baez?  (Odd?  Yes.  In character? Absolutely.)

And, this just in: the O’s are also adding Scott Williamson.  He’s cheap–only $900K for the year.  Oddly enough, he could be the best of their new additions.  I’m a little surprised nobody else was willing to go higher for him on a one-year deal.

Many of you have emailed me about a possible Angels-White Sox trade involving Ervin Santana and Chone Figgins for Freddy Garcia and Joe Crede.   As Rotoworld points out, this could be a recycled rumor; regardless, Kenny Williams says no.  And there’s no way Bill Stoneman deals Santana for Garcia without getting a lot more in return.  Five years of a good pitcher under the team’s control for one year of Garcia?  Right.

By Jeff Sackmann

General Chit-Chat

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How about this headline at ESPN: "MLB Official: Ramirez might be dealt by Saturday".  Official, what? Can somebody please define what a "big league official" is to me? Anyone? Bat boys are officials – they have the ’official MLB" ID cards.. the Reds cheerleaders have them too. With that kind of a headline, I’m guessing Manny goes nooooooowhere by Saturday. Sorry Buster, I had to bust your chops (no pun intended).

Ken Rosenthal at Fox Sports blatently told Mark McGwire today that he won’t get his HOF vote this year. I refuse to comment..

How many places did I read today that the Cubs have talked to Jason Schmidt’s agent more than once this off season? A few. Talk is cheap and ink drys. Do the deed, then tell me about it. Didn’t someone here predict Lugo would be joining Schmidt in Chicago three weeks ago? *wink* *wink*

Only in Pittsburgh is this possible – a deflationary contract was signed. The Pirates inked Damaso Marte to a two-year deal $1.3m less than the two team options the Pirates had on him. As Charlie said at the Bucs Dugout, that’s odd. Yep – it sure is.

Another odd media report came out today indicating the Pirates were interested in signing Jeff Suppan. Hmm.. I wonder if the Pirates plan to add in the rest of his 2003 salary in their 2007 offer?

What is it with the Reds having three or four receivers on their roster every year?

Barajas is the new Jays receiver. Or, is he? Yes he is. No wait, he isn’t. Have you ever seen so much excitement played in the media over two B/C players? Unbelievable.

Speaking of not having a clue, if you are up for a great laugh read Ed Eagle’s column at MLB today where he gave Pirate fans the opportunity to discuss what they would do if they were GM for a day. Eagle reached deep into his in-box to make all Pirate fans proud presenting some of his responses, like these:

"I would send Castillo, Shane Youman and cash to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Chad Tracy."

"This is what I propose: Maholm, Eldred and Damaso Marte to Tampa Bay for Crawford."

ok.. just one more.. I saved the best for last —

"Since Alex Rodriguez thrives in small-market settings, as GM for the day I would try to trade Duke, Maholm or Gorzelanny along with Salomon Torres and Castillo, for A-Rod… The Yankees would have to pay for some of his contract, but we could do it."

No, he didn’t print my response that said:

"I would resign."

Jake at Bucco Blog

Manny on the move?

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For real, this time!  Or not.

First off, Buster Olney thinks that Manny could be moved this week.  Maybe for a less-than-perfect package.  The team that keeps coming up is the Giants, but…how?  I can’t imagine the Red Sox would be very interested in the Bay Area chapter of the AARP.

I’ve heard speculation that the Giants rumors persist because the Red Sox want to up the bidding from the Dodgers, but I haven’t seen or heard any details about that deal.  I’d imagine it would include either James Loney or Andre Ethier, as one of those guys would end up on the bench if Manny came to L.A.  (And, of course, the Red Sox would want something of quality in return.)

A Cubs source e-mailed that Chicago has offered Matt Murton, Bob Howry, Sean Gallagher and Donald Veal, and that Felix Pie hasn’t come up.  That sounds like not quite enough, but if the Red Sox trade Manny, then turn around and sign J.D. Drew and Julio Lugo, the need for impact-quality major-league talent (say, Michael Young) is lessened.  The same source indicates that the Mets and Braves are also interested.

Olney says, "you get the sense that the Red Sox are increasingly comfortable with the idea of moving Ramirez even if they aren’t offered a perfect package in return."  If that’s true, it seems that the likelihood of a deal getting done is higher than ever.  If Drew is ready to sign with the Red Sox, teams that want a big bat have very few options, and most of them are expensive.  Manny’s contract has never looked better, and if the Red Sox aren’t asking for the moon, a trade looks very realistic.

By Jeff Sackmann

Lots of signings

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Adam Eaton is going to the Phillies for $24M over three years.  It’s an interesting harbinger of the contracts to come–that isn’t far out of line of all the $21/3 contracts that have been signed in the last couple of years.  Eaton is a bit of an injury risk, I suppose, but there’s nothing else keeping his value down.  Aside from the obvious cases–Barry Zito, Andy Pettitte, and Jason Schmidt–the only pitchers on the market who may get bigger deals that Eaton are Gil Meche and Ted Lilly.  It would be fascinating if the market for pitching remained as people predicted, while the market for hitters exploded.

David Dellucci signed a similarly sane deal to go to Cleveland: he’s getting $11.5M over three years.  Given Casey Blake’s versatility, Eric Wedge can play the hot hand with a number of players, including Dellucci, Blake, Jason Michaels, Shin-Soo Choo, and Ryan Garko.

It looks like it’ll be Gregg Zaun, and not Rod Barajas, who serves as the Blue Jays catcher next year.  Apparently the Barajas talks hit a snag, and Zaun stepped right back in.  That means Barajas may be headed to one of Zaun’s earlier targets: San Francisco, or a backup job in New York or Boston.

Speaking of catchers, I’m sure you’re all relieved to know that Chad Moeller found a job for 2007.  He got a major-league deal to join the Cincinnati Reds, which is Wayne Krivsky’s way of saying, "Jason LaRue, you suck!"  Interesting how Brewers backup catchers stick around in the division: if Gary Bennett stays with the Cardinals, two of the worst backup catchers in baseball will be former Brewers in the NL Central.

By Jeff Sackmann

Wolf, Baez to new homes

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Looks like Randy Wolf is about to become a Dodger.  Apparently LA is set to sign him to a one-year deal with an option for 2008; I’d guess it’s in the $6-7M range.  The same article speculates that Greg Maddux is looking for a raise on his $9M salary from last year–a two-year deal for Mike Mussina money.  I guess I didn’t realize quite what a stud he was after the trade last year, but I don’t know who’s going to give him that kind of cash.  I’ve been a Maddux fan since the first time he was with the Cubs, but if you had the choice between Maddux at $22.5M/2 and Ted Lilly at $27M/3, isn’t that a no-brainer?  Then again, we don’t know that Lilly won’t get more than that.

Also, Danys Baez looks to be headed to Baltimore.  The Orioles seem to think that, whatever their problems were last year, they can be solved with a very expensive bullpen.  It’s a three-year deal, according to the Baltimore Sun, and I suppose it could open up the possibility that Chris Ray could be traded for something that the Orioles really need.  Like, oh, I don’t know, an 1B/OF/DH type who can hit  above replacement level?  (Otherwise known as "the Fahey line.")

By Jeff Sackmann

Drew, Roberts, Aurilla, and Dunn

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SI reported yesterday that the Red Sox are close to signing JD Drew.

Are sign’s of desperation starting to appear? Gregg Zaun’s agent has been in ’consistent’ contact with Cashman and Julio Lugo has already talked to the Cubs and agreed to play CF.

Speaking of Zaun, Mercury News is reporting that Zaun’s agent is having ’consistent’ contact with the Giants, that the Giants are close to signing Dave Roberts and Rich Aurilia, and that they haven’t closed the door on re-signing Pedro Feliz or second baseman Ray Durham.

I hope Zaun’s agent gets paid by the hour. 

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting that all the market value craziness might benefit the Pirates. When pigs fly, you say?

Anyway, the article mentions that the Pirates front office had considered acquiring Adam Dunn. That tidbit sent Pirate bloggers into overdrive —

Honest Wagner said that if the Pirates got Dunn he ’would become the team’s best or second-best hitter’, I suppose forgetting that Sanchez and Bay were on the same roster. At Where Have You Gone Andy Van Slyke Pirate blog, Pat said Dunn ’would look awfully nice protecting Jason Bay’, but possibly forgetting Dunn NEEDS protection – he doesn’t offer much, especially playing at PNC Park.

My take? I said the same thing I said back at the July trade deadline in 2006 – we don’t need a $10m Adam Dunn to whiff all year for us. What did you expect me to say?  hehe

Dan Perry at Fox Sports talks about how the Cardinals have a great deal of work to do now to compete in 2007.

Humbly I report that a list has finally come out that does not include anyone from Pittsburgh – The Goggle Gang by Bill Madden at the New York Daily News.

And yes Jeff, the Brewers getting rid of Davis for Estrada was a great move – I agree.

By Jake at Bucco Blog

Brewers finally making some noise

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Doug Davis was known to be on the trading block…Johnny Estrada was known to be on the trading block…but I don’t think anybody expected the two of them to switch places.

The Brewers traded Davis, lefty starter Dana Eveland, and center fielder-with-an-attitude Dave Krynzel to the Diamondbacks for Estrada, starter Claudio Vargas, and reliever Greg Aquino.  It’s an interesting move for the Crew: apparently Doug Melvin wasn’t comfortable going into spring training with Damian Miller as his starter and Mike Rivera and JD Closser as possible backups.  Estrada will, presumably, split time with Miller.

The fascinating part of the deal to me is the pitching swap.  Melvin likes to build his bullpens creatively, and it would’ve shocked me if he didn’t pick up at least one high-upside arm like Aquino before March.  And both teams gain some years of cheap pitching: the Brewers replace Davis with Vargas, who they’ll have under their control for three more years.  Vargas slides into Davis’s rotation spot.  Eveland only has about a year of service time, so if he pans out, the D-Backs get him for five more years.

UPDATE: I’ve posted a little more analysis of the deal at my Brewers blog, along with some quotes from Doug Melvin on his three new acquisitions.

By Jeff Sackmann

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